


a distant aroma at best

by ThirstyForRed



Series: speedruning evolution [3]
Category: Wiedźmin | The Witcher - All Media Types
Genre: M/M, adult jacques goes by alvin here, as per tradition there's at least one corpse in the background, they simply can't make out without the corpse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-18
Updated: 2020-09-18
Packaged: 2021-03-07 20:47:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,066
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26533843
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ThirstyForRed/pseuds/ThirstyForRed
Summary: Hubert let himself breathe deeper and sniff on air. The laboratory was full of aromas.
Relationships: Alvin/Hubert Rejk
Series: speedruning evolution [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2055267
Kudos: 4





	a distant aroma at best

Hubert, thanks to his inhuman, vampiric to be precise, anatomy was able to withstand even the most extreme weather conditions. So spending winter on Inis Porhoet, an island far to the north on the Great Ocean, was nothing for him. He wasn't the type to whine about the cold weather - unlike someone else...

He raised his head to look at the ceiling as if he could see through stones and wooden boards a human figure tossing in bed. He sighed. For every advantage of this whole partnership with Alvin, there were always one or two drawbacks. By all means, they should be absolutely incompatible.

Alvin despised the cold, not just because of his inferior human physique, but almost as if he hated the mere idea of frost and snow, and winter. He would always start the fire, either magically or manually, let the tongues of flame lick at his fingers... Hubert could barely stand watching it - he knew from the experience that fire was dangerous. Consuming alive, ever-hungry, how awfully smelled burned fur and vampiric flesh.

Then there were their preferences for working hours. Hubert wasn't like other, lesser vampires, he didn't care that much for the Sun. It was ugly, slightly too bright for his liking, and made him groggy, but ultimately the star was just a nuance on the sky. Harmless and annoying. So it was natural for him to arrange his time in such a way that he could work by night and sleep in the day, to see as least as possible of sunlight. Alvin tried to keep up with him, but soon it turned out that the human wasn't able to stay up the whole night. He would retire not long after midnight, right when Hubert's mind would often be at its peak of clearness. On a few occasions, he found himself excitedly talking and sharing ideas with already snoring man...

They shouldn't be working together. But there they are, sharing working space and bold ideas.

Hubert looked back to his examination table, weirdly he didn't feel like finishing this one. Thanks to the winter coldness he didn't have to hurry with cleaning. It was so cold that nothing would spoil if he left it for a few hours. He only pulled out his surgical tools and took them to the water basin. The soft cling of metal in the water was accompanied by more noises of movement from the upstairs.

Hubert let himself breathe deeper and sniff on air. The laboratory was full of aromas. There was the smell of blood and flesh, sharp and mouthwatering. Herbs and various other plants they were experimenting with. The strong and disgusting smell of jars filled with more interesting specimens or their parts preserved in formaldehyde. And of course Alvin.

There were layers to his smell that at first Hubert couldn't understand. Obviously every human had their own specific smell, the distinctive odor of sweat evaporating from their skin. Sometimes it could be even alluring in a way, like a promise of the feast that would be their blood. It was always something warm and alive.

But Alvin didn't smell like that. Everything he touched, medical tools, wooden tables, or stoned walls, everything had that faint aroma of... Freshness.

It was hard to describe, to wrap one's mind around the concept - it was indisputably something ancient. Something yet untold.

Only one Hubert had an opportunity to taste his blood. A single droplet left on a blade of a knife after a pitifuly swallow cut. There were no words in human, elven, or vampire languages to give it a name. Full of contradictions: watery and thick at the same time, burning and icy cold, fresh and savory... Full of knowledge, of potential and magic, of the essence of something so old, so antique It was there, everywhere, from the very beginning.

And it was just a single droplet! Hubert trembled at the thought of what would full mouthful feel like. What would it be to bite right into the artery...

"Still working, I see..."

And there he was, Alvin, at the bottom of the stairs, covered in blankets, barely awake, and yet clearly unable to sleep.

"Actually, I think I'm done for tonight." Hubert left half washed tool at the bottom of the water basin and moved closer to the human. Just a bit closer to his aroma. "And you? Another one of your nightmares?"

"It could be called that." Alvin laughed weakly. "It wasn't the one with dying. Or killing..."

"Something different then?"

"In this dream, I was... marked. In a way." he stepped closer, his smell almost overwhelming, making Hubert want to unleash his claws.

"As someone's possession?" asked Hubert, his voice dropping lower, showing sharp canines.

"More as a mutual thing," said Alvin with a silky voice and half-lidded eyes.

Vampire stepped back stricken by a sudden realization. He glared at the other man. "So, you had a wet dream."

"Yes, I knew you would know the proper terminology."

"And you decided to come down and tell me about it. Unless there was actually something nightmarish to it?"

"I woke up. And that was quite a nightmare." Alvin laughed, this time with full force.

Hubert tried to step around him, get away, but then there was a hand on his chest and soft 'wait' stopping him. And despite common sense, he did stop. Let Alvin bring him closer, with one hand on the shoulder, and the other already pulling at his hair.

"You keep teasing me and then turning around-"

"I don't!" Hubert tried to protest but was interrupted mercilessly.

"But you do, dear. I see how your eyes wander, and I know how much you want to taste... So why not simply ask?" And he smiled like a devil himself - all teeth, sweetness, and promises.

Hubert slowly relaxed, exhaling and pressing Alvin back to himself, to feel his warmth, to mix their scents. He opened his mouth to say something, maybe even excuse himself, but Alvin already captured his lips in a kiss.

And Hubert would have a hard time choosing what was better - to get the droplet of this Elder Blood on his tongue or to feel Alvin sucking at it. It's soft and warm, and Alvin pulls at his hair just right. And Hubert feels almost stupid at the thought that they could have been doing it sooner. 

**Author's Note:**

> title is from Honor for All by Daniel Licht bc I still have this song stuck in my head and playing whenever I hear the word 'aroma'
> 
> this fic could use the second, smutty chapter, but that for the future me to figure out lol


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